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One Good Year:
A Mother and Daughter’s Educational Adventure
Formerly entitled Love in a Time of Homeschooling
My oldest daughter, Julia, hates school. She’s a creative girl who loathes deskwork, homework overload, and all the boredom and anxiety that's part of test-prep education. So when she reached the fifth grade, I told Julia that we could do something different. For one year we could carry out our ideal vision of learning, with field trips and concerts, science experiments and lots of writing. My only worry was how we'd get along. As most Moms know, months of homebound mother-daughter contact can be a recipe for trouble.
One Good Year describes our visit to the world of homeschooling. It’s a tale of love and anger, along with reading and math--a story that explores public education and its discontents, and the alternatives that families are seeking across America.
"Funny, heart-cracking and ultimately profoundly educational. I recommend this book to all parents and educators who have ever thought-I wish things could be different." - Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls
"Engaging, unpredictable. . . . No rosy manifesto to homeschooling, nor a condemnation, but a real-life encounter, full of stormy battles, power struggles and, most of all, passion.. . . . Graceful and charming." -Kirkus Reviews
"A touching glimpse into a mother-daughter relationship...it will inspire you to foster a love of learning no matter what your schooling choice may be." - Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder